Pain
by FireSonG
Summary: A continuation after the Ultimecia battle, how things might have continued ^_^
1. Pain

He opened his eyes...  
  
And the sun hit him with its blinding glare.  
  
He sat up, nursing a aching head and a sore pain right across his arm.  
  
Squall looked around and realised that he was in the Infirmary, but he didn't remember anything after that fight, no, training session that he had with Seifer in the morning. It was just a typical day for Seifer anyway, beating up on someone and leaving him unconsicious, although Squall gave himself a smirk when he remembered giving Seifer a nice piece of his mind just before he knocked out.  
  
"Damn.. I lost." Squall thought as he nursed the sore from the cut Seifer gave him just as Quistis walked in. He immediately knew that he was going to get another lecture from her.  
  
"You thought that you could beat him alone didn't you?" Quistis asked. "Just because you did it once doesn't mean that you'll be able to do it again."  
  
"Whatever..." Both Squall and Quistis said at exactly the same time.  
  
"And I thought being with Rinoa would have changed you for the better. Really Squall, after all that's happened in the past few months, can't you be a little more open with us?" said Quistis, slightly crossed.  
  
"I've been like that and I'll always be like that, so would you leave? I need some time alone." he growled as he closed his eyes and laid back on the bed.  
  
She looked at him and giving a sigh, walked out of the Infirmary.  
  
***  
  
"Hey Squall, you wanna try some of these hotdogs? Zell *munch* they were the best things around here and it's the first...*munch*.. I've tried it since I got...*munch*.. here from Galbadia... You know, they...*munch*... pretty good actually......." Irvine muttered on, not noticing that Squall wasn't even paying attention to him.  
  
"Hi Irvy, hi Squall!" said Selphie as she and Zell approached the table where the two guys were sitting. "Move over Irvy, we've got more people joining us at the table."  
  
Irvine moved his chair over a little to make more space but made sure that Selphie would have to sit next to him. Zell stumbled over the chair which Irvine put out for Selphie as he was completely engrossed in the book he was reading.  
  
"Hey, watch where you're going Zell!" Irvine shouted as Zell fell right on top on him. "You've really been reading way too many books since we got back. Don't you think so Squall?"  
  
Squall didn't even bother to reply as he stood up. He couldn't take it anymore, he had to go and see her. It had been ages since he last saw Rinoa, not since the ball after the defeat of the Future Sorceress Ultimecia. The Galbadian army had come and taken her away from him right after the ball had ended, under the orders of her father, President Caraway.  
  
"Where are you going Squall?" Quistis asked as he ran past her. A worried look ran across her face as she saw him heading toward the carpark. "He'd better not do anything stupid, but knowing him, he'll do whatever it takes." she thought.  
  
"Do you think we should go after him?" asked Selphie with an equally worried look on her, with Irvine and Zell, still engrossed with his book, standing behind her.  
  
"..*munch*..course, we have to..*munch* he is our friend." chewed Irvine with Zell nodding while flipping the page of his "Good bye Pupurun - Part 2".  
  
They all knew where Squall would be headed, there would only be one place where he would go, where his heart would take him. Where Rinoa was, where Sorceress Rinoa was.  
  
***  
  
The group reached the train station just as the train pulled out.  
  
"We just missed it, Squall must be on that train." said Irvine just as Zell bumped into him, sending him crashing into the gantry. "Hey Zell, if you don't stop reading that book I'm going to ....!!!!"  
  
"Stop it you guys! Squall needs us and it's not going to help if we start squabbling now." Selphie exclaimed as she dragged the group back to Balamb Garden. "We'll take the Ragnarok. It'll be faster anyway."  
  
Zell flipped the page.....  
  
As Squall sat in the SeeD-only room, his thoughts drifted back to the time he and the others were thrown back into the past through the eyes of Laguna and the rest. The time Laguna was in Galbadia with Julia, in Winhill with Ellone and Raine. Both times Laguna had to leave them because he was pulled away by his sense of duty and responsibility. Now Squall was facing the same thing. He couldn't be with Rinoa because of his role as the new leader of Balamb Garden, even though Cid was still the Headmaster of the SeeDs. He couldn't leave his duty behind as the Garden's responsibility was now to destroy all the monsters that appeared after the Lunar Cry that occured during the 'Ultimecia Incident' as it was now called. No one wanted to call it the 2nd Sorceress War even though that was what it almost became if not for the Balamb SeeDs.  
  
He didn't want to be like Laguna and abandon the person that needed him emotionally the most, even though he had an obligation to the people of the world. It didn't take just one man to save the world, but it needed just one man to save a woman. He couldn't accept the way Laguna did the things he did, heck, Squall thought Laguna was stupid in the way that he carried himself in front of others. Yet Squall found that what he was doing now was similar to what Laguna had done in the past. He wasn't about to let history repeat itself especially if it meant that he was going to let Rinoa marry someone else just because he wasn't there for her. Maybe that was another reason why Ellone had sent him back into the past to see what Laguna saw, so that he wouldn't do what Laguna had done to Raine. Now he knew he had to get to Galbadia and get Rinoa back, he lost her once when Esthar took her, he wasn't about to lose her again.  
  
He wished the train would go faster.  
  
***  
  
"Shouldn't we tell someone where we're going first before we take the Ragnarok? I don't think Cid would like it very much if we left without telling him. Martine's gonna kill me if Cid tells him about this" Irvine muttered as he strapped on his seatbelt. "Zell, are you still reading that darn book?!"  
  
"A couple of pages more, just a couple." Zell replied as he turned the page of the book.  
  
"Then I'll be onto the third book."  
  
Irvine had half the urge to jump out of his seat and tear Zell's book into tiny little pieces but a look from Selphie completely wiped the thought from his mind. He always thought he was a charmer, but to him Selphie was an angel that had fallen to Earth and he had no thought of anything other but her.  
  
"Since this is the situation that we've fallen into, Zell will stay onboard the Ragnarok when we arrive to guard the ship." said Quistis taking charge immediately. 'And so Irvine won't kill Zell when we get to Galbadia.' she quietly thought to herself.  
  
By now Selphie had gotten the Ragnarok up and running as the others settled into their seats. "Lady and Gentlemen, Flight 122 to Galbadia will be taking off shortly so hold on to your seats!"  
  
Irvine wished he was sitting next to Selphie instead of behind her.  
  
Zell wished he had brought book 4 and 5 with him for the journey.  
  
Quistis wished that she could get the whole thing over with.  
  
Selphie wished, she didn't know what she wished...  
  
*** 


	2. Pain Cont.

(This is the 2nd instalment to 'Pain'. Hope it's an improvement ^_^)  
  
Seifer stood up.  
  
"TROUBLE?" Fujin said as she noted the look on Seifer's face.  
  
"Hey Seifer, ya think we'll have trouble on this mission? You haven't told us a thing about it since you got the assignment ya know." Raijin muttered in his typical followup to Fujin's comments.  
  
Swinging his gunblade to test the strength in his sword arm, Seifer growled "I'm going to get Squall for this damn cut on my arm! And anyway, that stupid Headmaster Cid just told me to get the team to Centra. ME! A sorceress knight reduced to a flunky to that pathetic fool!"  
  
"ULTIMECIA."  
  
"Seifer, ya know ya wasn't yourself when that Ultimecia lady was around, if it wasn't for Squall and the others ...."  
  
"SHUT UP!! I've had it with Squall this and Squall that! That dolt couldn't even beat me this morning, and he took away my dream as a sorceress knight. And just because I've been made a SeeD now doesn't mean I have to listen to him or about him." as Seifer made a deep slash across the side of the transport they were in.  
  
Both Rujin and Raijin fell silent, Seifer was their friend, their groupie. And they weren't about to let themselves abandon Seifer now. All they wanted to do was complete the mission Cid had assigned and get back to their roles as the Discipline Committee back in Balamb.  
  
All Seifer wanted to do was to get his revenge on Squall, and he knew just the way to do it.  
  
***  
  
"This train will be arriving shortly at Timber, transfers to Galbadia will have to change trains. Thank you for your attention." The speaker boomed just above Squall's head.  
  
Squall got up to make his way out of the train for his transfer when he bumped into a person.  
  
"Hey! Watch where you're going , you aren't the the only one that's on this train!." A clearly feminine voice rung out from the heap of cloth that was on the floor now.  
  
"You shouldn't be standing in front of the door then." Squall matter-of- factly replied as he stepped over the figure.  
  
"Well, that's a modern gentleman for you nowadays. At least you could help me get up!" the figure almost screamed at him.  
  
Somehow that voice seemed to become more and more familer to him. No, it couldn't be. She was in Galbadia, not in Timber. She couldn't be in Timber, not when her father would have her under lock and key.  
  
"Rinoa?"  
  
"Finally realised who I was huh? And I thought I was someone special to you. Now HELP me up!" Rinoa grumbled as she twisted and turned in a bid to get out of the situation she was in. "All this covering up, just to get out of Galbadia. I wish my father would give up and just let me be who I am."  
  
"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Galbadia?" Squall asked with a dumbfounded look on his face. He didn't expect things to turn out this way.  
  
"No father of mine is going to keep me where I don't want to be kept, even if he is the President of Galbadia now."  
  
"And I wanted to see you Squall. That's why I'm here. Didn't you want to see me too?" as she took off the hood of her cloak and looked at Squall.  
  
She was still as beautiful as ever, even though he hadn't seen her for months. And now that she was in front of him, he didn't want to let her leave again.  
  
"Could we get out of here before you start turning into a card? I think the Galbadian soldiers are around here. Man, they're really persistant, especially when you don't want them to."  
  
She grabbed his hand and pulled him along, towards the road out of Timber.  
  
***  
  
The Ragnarok made a perfect landing at the outskirts of the Galbadian capital, now known as Caraway City after President Caraway took office.  
  
"Okay, time to go." as the group unclasped their seatbelts and made their arrangements to head to Caraway City. "And Zell, guard the Ragnarok okay? It's still Esthar property after all and we really wouldn't want to make them unhappy over the lost of their Ragnarok." which Quistis decided to remind Zell of. They didn't want to lose the Ragnarok anyway.  
  
The team of three stepped out of the Ragnarok, Selphie exclaimed "We haven't been away from Balamb since the ball. Ahhh, it feels good to breathe fresh air again." as she began to run around the plain.  
  
"Selphie, make sure you've junctioned your GFs before you start running around like that. There are still monsters moving about here. You wouldn't want to be running into one without your junctions." Quistis shouted to the shrinking figure of Selphie in the distance.  
  
"Don't worry Quisty, I'll take care of her." as Irvine sprinted after Selphie.  
  
Quistis shook her head as she began running after the two excited figures heading towards Caraway City. She hoped things would be better when they got there.  
  
She crossed the knoll just in time to see the Malboro drop down behind Irvine and Selphie.  
  
It was going to be one long day.  
  
***  
  
"Where are we headed?"  
  
"Where I told you I'd be waiting for you."  
  
"Edea's?"  
  
"Where else? It's the only place where my father doesn't know about anyway."  
  
"But ..."  
  
"But?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Okay. So let's go"  
  
As Squall wondered if they were doing the right thing. Rinoa was lost in her own world. Somehow things didn't seem right to him, even when it seemed so perfect. Exactly what he wanted. But something still felt wrong.  
  
Squall hoped that he was going to be wrong, but it didn't feel like he was going to be.  
  
*** 


End file.
